Any Man Of Mine

“Don’t you spend your summers in Cancun with the guys?”

“I’d rather spend time with you and Conner than on a boat with girls in bikinis.” When had that happened? “Who needs girls in bikinis?”

“You.”

He slid his hand down her hip. “I just need you in a bikini. Al that white skin in need of sunscreen and someone to rub on it on you.”

“That got us in trouble in Vegas.”

“I remember. I remember how beautiful you looked.” He softly bit her shoulder and tasted her skin. “You’re more beautiful now. Even in the morning.”

“You don’t know what I look like in the morning.”

“Yes I do. You looked real y hot in those wiener-dog jammies in Moclips.”

She laughed as if he were joking. “There you go again, trying to charm me into fal ing in love with you.”

“What if I fal in love with you?” His hand slid up and cupped her breast.

Her gaze met his. “You won’t.”

He didn’t like the way she said it. As if it wasn’t possible. As if he wasn’t capable of fal ing in love with a woman. As if he wasn’t capable of loving her.

Chapter Sixteen

Any Man of Mine:

Is Observant

Even before Autumn opened her eyes, she knew he was gone. Of course he was. He had a game in New Jersey, and he wouldn’t be home for five days. She touched the indent his head had left in her pil ow.

What if I fall in love with you? Last night hadn’t been the first time he’d mentioned love. He’d said the same thing earlier in her office. The first time, she’d just thought he was saying it because she’d had her hand down his pants. The second time because he’d had his hand on her breast. Men couldn’t be trusted during sex and were likely to say anything.

Autumn sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She hurriedly pul ed on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt so Conner wouldn’t catch her stark naked in bed.

Five years ago, Sam had married her and never mentioned love. Never even hinted at it, and she’d just assumed he’d loved her. Look where that had gotten her.

She glanced at her bedside clock, then walked across the hal to Conner’s room. He lay on his side, his arms stretched out, and his eyes were already open. “Get up, lazy.” Conner would start Christmas vacation next week, but of course he wouldn’t think of sleeping in. Which meant she wouldn’t get to sleep in either.

He sat up in his new sailboat bedding and his Handy Manny pajamas. She wondered how much longer he’d like Manny. How much longer until Manny went the same way as Barney. “Can I have heart pancakes?” he asked.

“Yes.” She smiled. He was stil her boy. For a while yet anyway. “Yes, you can.”

For the next five days, Autumn fel into her normal routine. Only it didn’t feel so normal. Not without Sam, and she felt uneasy about how quickly that had al changed. During the day, she tried not to think about him, and at night when he cal ed, she tried to ignore the heated rush warming her skin and pul ing at her heart. At the sound of his voice, she bit her lip to keep from smiling.

Friday night, he returned home. To her home, like they were a family. “How was your day, honey?” he asked as he slid into bed. She talked to him about the Ross twins and their latest wants and needs for their July wedding. She told him about Chelsea’s breast reduction surgery scheduled for the next week.

“Ah. That’s why Mark is taking a few weeks off.” He lifted her hand and looked at her fingers. “Although I don’t know why she’d want to do something like that.”

“Probably because of backaches.”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” He looked at her, his blue eyes serious. “You’d never do something like that. Right?”

She didn’t have double D’s, so she didn’t have to worry about it. “No.”

“Good. I like you just the way you are.” When he said sweet things like that, she could almost forget that he was a self-indulgent jock who spent most of his time in a locker room.

“I have a weird little toe,” she felt compel ed to point out.

“That’s okay, honey. Your rack makes up for it. You have a great rack, and I don’t think that makes me a perv. Just observant.”

She laughed because he was total y serious.

Two nights later, she and Conner went to his game against the Carolina Hurricanes. They wore Chinook T- shirts and bought hot dogs and Cokes and tried not to cringe when Sam got knocked around or put the “big hurt” on someone. He skated up and down the ice, passing the puck or firing so fast Autumn lost track of it altogether. She noticed that he talked a lot out on the ice, and she was sure she was better off not knowing what he said. Especial y when he had to sit out four minutes in the penalty box.

“That player there”—Conner pointed to a Carolina player—“is crashing Dad’s zone. He’s not going to like that.”

Autumn real y didn’t have a clue what her son was talking about until Sam slammed the player into the boards and the Plexiglas shook. Autumn gasped as he dug at the puck with his stick and shot it down ice. He looked up, sweat dripping down his nose. For one brief second, his gaze met hers, and he smiled.

Suddenly she knew how that Carolina player felt. Like she was getting slammed around. Like he was putting the “big hurt” on her, only she liked it and wanted more.

Her chest got kind of tight and panicky. She had to pul back. She didn’t trust Sam. She didn’t trust herself. Like before, everything was moving too fast. And this time, if and when it ended, she wasn’t the only one who would suffer.

And yet, that night he came to her house like he belonged there. He said good night to Conner, then moved into the kitchen. “Do you have any frozen peas in here?” he asked as he opened the freezer.

He wore black sweatpants, a blue Chinooks T-shirt, and a big red mark on his cheek. “Mixed veggie medley.”

“That’l do.” He took it out and shoved the bag beneath the elastic of his sweats. “The organization just hired a new forward from Russia.”

She smiled. She liked how he told her things about his day and asked about hers.

“He’s young, though,” Sam continued. “Seems kind of irresponsible, selfish, and reckless.”

He sounded like a hockey player to her, and she lifted a brow and looked at him.

He chuckled. “I’m not that reckless these days.”

“Wel , I guess one out of three is…” She paused, as if searching for the right word. “ . . . progress.”

He grinned like a proud, reformed sinner. “I’m working on the other two.”

She leaned her behind against the counter and folded her arms across the fish on her shirt. “You might want to work a bit harder.”

“I have been working harder. I thought maybe you noticed.”

“Maybe a little.”

“Maybe you should show me some appreciation.” He grasped her forearms and slid them around his waist. “Show some encouragement.”

And she did. She encouraged the hel out of him al night long, but the next morning, he was gone. They’d both agreed that he should not be there in the morning when Conner got up. Or rather, she’d set down the rule, and Sam had reluctantly agreed. He didn’t see anything wrong with Conner seeing so much of his parents together, but he clearly wasn’t thinking about the future. About the day when he wouldn’t be around as much. Autumn thought about it, though. A lot. Thought about it and felt like she was sitting around, waiting for the